“There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.”

― Frank Herbert

Monday, August 17, 2015

Into town.

I am headed into town. It's a nice day, and I need to go in for a few things. Among them, a stop at the post office. I have to check with the weasels there to see if they will let me send sorghum syrup in glass jars through the mail. If not, I will go to the pack and wrap store, I'm pretty sure UPS will let me.

It's good weather for a change. Humidity is low and the temperature is mid seventies.

We're supposed to get rain this afternoon, but just showers. I don't mind that, but I can do without the torrential downpours we've been getting this summer. It's been a week or two weeks with no rain, and then thunderstorms that take down the power and bring sheets of rain.

Other than the nights getting longer, there's no real sign of the summer being over. We have about six more weeks of summer like weather, and then around mid October it will suddenly be flannel shirt weather, and time to have a fire in the fireplace at night.

Things are going slow and steady at the moment, with no big problems to resolve. It's pretty quiet. Just started raining again, so at least I don't have to worry about forest fires for a bit.

October is warm the first part of the month, then very abruptly it gets frosty at night, and windy during the day. The leaves change and the mountains are all red and gold. It's a nice time of year.

Still looking for a decent little hand held digital camera in line with your suggestion. I don't want to spend a lot on it, the gun and ancillaries is already over my budget, but I want one I can plug into my computer and download my videos on to. Something will turn up.

I envy you that Autumn is nearly arriving there. Down here in south Texas, 'Hades' like conditions will continue for quite a spell (we've had 'century mark' Thanksgivings here in the past), though thats more the exception than the rule. Mid Octoberish, the year's 1st cool front might blow through, reducing it down to the 80s' - brrrr! :^)

I know Texas stays hot longer than the mountains. Even down in Atlanta it's a lot hotter than it is here, both because the elevation is lower, and Atlanta generates it's own "heat bloom" with all the metal and concrete.

We will have frosts some nights of mid to late October, and it's cool enough that I wear flannel shirts during the day.

Cooler weather has decided here for the next week. heat index was in the low 100's and its down to 70 this am. Forecast in Oct. like all week. That's ok with me. had to make coffee this morning just to warm up. Kind of nice. I dislike the city as much as you do, only mine is going into the Twin Cities Metro tooo much traffic.

I never thought you would have humidity up there. That surprises me, I thought it was always dry air up in New England. You are so much further North than we are, I expect you will be having fires sooner than us. I'm ready for the cold weather, this summer has been a real tough one.

Yeah, they said no go on that. I don't want my package broken anyway, so it's probably better not to send it by the U.S. Postal Service. I will just send it UPS. It's only going up to Virginia so it shouldn't get bashed around much.

I flew my Confederate flag yesterday for the first time. I plan to fly it again on Labor day. I got some funny looks from some of the neighbors but the First Amendment is sacred and they can kiss my ass. That's what this is about to me. The ability to fly a flag of my choice in what is supposed to be a free country.This is not about who is better or what side should have won the civil war, but about freedom of expression.

This is my property, my rules. If someone does not like it. They have the choice to look at another direction and stare at something else.

On Saturday before while I was setting up my flagpole. I needed help from my neighbor across the street who is a good friend of mine. His car was in his driveway and so was his mother in laws car. I walked over, knocked on the door and the mother and law answered the door and asked about what I wanted. I asked if I could get my neighbor to help me for about two minutes. My neighbors mother in law in a short, clipped, rather fierce tone said, No' he cant come out and she proceded to slam the door in my face???

That was my first mother in law treatment:(

I thought I would be spared this horror being a bachelor for life but I guess I had to get it somehow (what did I do wrong. all I did was ask for help)

Now I am considering putting up a sign near next to my front door that says

"No Jehovah Witness's, No muslims, No Liberal Progressives and No American women allowed (I don't care for their attitudes either)

That would be a hell of a statement to have on a front door.

I like women, I just don't like the attitudes. I don't like to be snapped at for no apparent reason.

The actor from the movie 'As good as it gets" had all the best line ever about women 'How do you so accurately describe a woman. He (The actor) responds. "Take a man, remove all responsibility and logic and all you have left is a woman"

That's one of the best lines ever from a movie.

Now I had this little rant mostly out of entertainment and humor, but I also have no patience with being 'snapped at for no reason' That's something I can never get used too.I do not wish to incur the wrath of any of the women that view this blog. I know there are some outstanding women in the survivalist community and prepper community. I especially do not wish the incur the wrath of Kymber. I fear she may lead of Regiment Canadian military women armed with Enfields being lead by four pipers playing Scotland the Brave down my street and I will have to engage in a 'very smart retreat.

cc - thanks for the chuckle - me and jam just laughed our heads off! and were glad to see some "pant-wearing" canadian soldiers. we aren't all of scots descent up here in canada, but our island is very scottish. again - thanks for the laugh. xoxo

yeah' you guys saw the video where the American troops are fighting each other and the Canadians arrive in parade formation and inspection ready.That's about right, Americans are mutts fighting each other the Canadians are dignified purebreds.

Just because the old hag gave you a bad time, doesn't mean all women are bad.( I had to write that, my wife reads the blog and she might beat me up)

Just kidding.

Well, I like my mother in law ok. She was always a good old woman, and now that she is so old she has to be taken care of she isn't a pain. My father in law was the one who gave me grief, mainly because he was used to being the head honcho and was in the habit of giving orders, not making requests.

Anyway, when you get sick or get hurt, you need a woman to take care of you and be sympathetic. At least, I do....

I would think you could just leave your flag up. My brother does that in Oregon, and it pisses off his neighbors no end, but they are all flower child yuppies and they are afraid of him. When they wanted him to take it down, they all had to gather in a bunch, no one had the stones to come over to his place alone. He sent them packing and hasn't heard from them since.

If you put no muslims on your sign you'll get investigated by the "Justice Department". Given how that bunch behaves I always get a kick out of the department name.

captain crunch - i sure hope i don't have to get my "wimmin" friends to break out the enfields and start marching down there behind 2 guys playing the bagpipes - it just wouldn't be pretty!!! imagine how cranky all of those "wimmin" would be having to march all the way to texas listening to "the wreck of the edmond fitzgerald" 6 million times?!?!?!? it would get ugly fast - bahahahahah!

nah buddy - the only reason me and the "wimmins" would be marching would be because we were coming to save you and bring you back with us. and i am sure that one of those "wimmins" would be making you their husband pretty quickly. "wimmin" up here are pretty smart about finding a good man - there might even be a few fights over you! sending love captain! xoxox

I appreciate the gesture but I am an old run down, beat up surfer dude with a permanent tan and a bad attitude. I live in a two bedroom, two bath house with a 25 year old truck and a 13 year old truck, a mess of guns with a 13 year old microwave that has not been cleaned in 10 years (true story) I have not had a haircut in almost a year (growing my hair long like Jeff Spicoli in 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and I look like the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

Im pretty sure I will be a 'one man band' at this point. It does give me freedom that others don't have. The best part of it all is no mother in law and no crazy family stuff, no drama.

Well, maybe there's an old beat up lobster boat woman there on Kymber's Island that needs a man. As you get older, being alone is going to be no fun....... Maybe she's got a cool off road vehicle. You could write to her and ask her to send a picture of the vehicle..

captain...cut a lemon in half and put it on a plate with a bit of apple cider vinegar on it...set the microwave for a minute...THAT will clean your microwave for you. and git yer butt up here for a visit...yer a bachelor and i know that you can save so git up here and let me introduce you to some of our single women friends. our island is full of beauties and i am talking about women over 40 who still love to live life to the fullest! i think you would appreciate the fact that they would love a man like you and want to do their best by you.

Harry, I just about fell out of chair laughing. An old lobster boat woman. Yeah' right. Down here in South Texas its Shrimpers. Have you ever been to walmart and seen the white rubber boots. We call those Shrimper boots. They were them all day, all night. Hell' I think the Shrimpers sleep in them boots.Shrimpers are the ultimate rednecks down here and they have about as many teeth as a Jack O' Lantern.

I'm assuming Nova Scotia Lobster boat women are similar.

I'm sure Kymber has all of her teeth. She's a classy educated Canadian chick. Down here in South Texas we have women that can open spam cans with their teeth and most made it through the 8th grade.

There used to be a lot of shrimpers in Beufort, North Carolina. I lived on the beach on Emerald Isle, and at night I would see their lights bobbing out there. I got to know some of them because they all had CB radios, and sometimes I'd make phone calls for them, because that was long before cell phones. They'd radio me, I'd make the call and pass the word for them. They were rough, hard working people but you'd have to be to make a living on the ocean like that.

That sounds like a pretty good report. Looking forward to October, that's for sure. It's been flooding here in FL. Our pasture that is normally 10% pond and 90% dry land is nearly 100% swamp at the moment. No worries though, it happens about every seven to ten years. The cows aren't too happy though.

Harry - as i said above, i always love to see the pics of your mountains, and pics of you. we had a super hot day today - nothing like the kind of heat that you get but pretty hot for up here (about 29C). we spent several hours down at the river having dips and swimming and jam did some more work on the boatlaunch area. it's really coming along. i'll be sure to take pics when he is finished - i think you'll be impressed with it. he does all of this work by hand, by himself. he makes me very proud.

I got Sharks and Boat ramps. Hell' I got like ten boat ramps within 10 miles. My neighbor was caught a 22 inch Redfish and a salt water trout yesterday.We got Hammerheads, Black Tips, Tigers, Bulls, and probably a few other sharks down there too.The Black tips and the Bulls are the nasty ones.

Harry - we don't have many sharks here as the water is too cold for any sharks that are a danger to man (from jamie - he studied biology and has read up on everything he can about our island!). jam says we definitely don't have any bull sharks in the area. i remember when i was a child about 26 or so years ago about hearing about a boat catching a shark but that's it.

jam is building this boatlaunch area every time we go to the river for dips. he's digging right into a hill and moving the dirt to a whole nuther area. it's not an easy job but he does it with relish - he loves working hard and i try to make sure that he is fed appropriately.

again - i love seeing pics of your mountains and lush, giant trees - it is so different from our area. i love seeing pics of Dani's land too - so very different. anyway - i am off to watch cc's video now....should be pretty fun - bahahahah! xox

I have little icons on the top of my computer screen that when I click on them, it pulls up other people's blogs but I don't know how it chooses them. Then sometimes a G+ symbol shows up on a post when I am editing it, but I don't know what that means either. I know just enough to do blogger.

I'm glad you liked the pictures. I think people enjoy seeing how other people live. I know I like pictures incorporated into posts on other people's blogs I read.

Usually it is. But for the last two days, it's been kind of eerie. The woods are all gray, it's raining all the time, thunder is rolling off in the distance and the rain just doesn't stop. I expect to see a Tyrannosaurus coming out of the forest at any moment. Especially at night.

If we had fires like that I'd be ruined. Everything I own is up here and it would all burn up. I feel sorry for the people out west where the fires are so bad.

We've had light rain, torrential rain, and everything in between for two days now. I need to go into town for another bag of ferret food, somehow I let myself get down to one bag with no reserve. But the weather was so bad today I decided to wait. We can hold out a few days if we have to, the ferrets won't go short.

But how to do it?

“The worst evil which befalls our race is, that when we are wronged and plundered, all the world laughs around, and we are compelled to suppress our sense of injury, and to smile tamely, when we would revenge bravely.”

― Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

Sooth

"I certainly do not wish to live in a society dominated by blacks, Mexicans, and Orientals. Look at Africa, Mexico, and Asia."

Edward Abbey

Moon Phases

Practical News

Edward Abbey

"It might be wise for us, as American citizens, to consider calling a halt to the mass influx of even more millions of hungry, ignorant, unskilled, and culturally-morally-genetically, impoverished people...Why not [support immigration]? Because we prefer democratic government, for one thing; because we still hope for an open, spacious, uncrowded, and beautiful--yes beautiful!--society, for another. The alternative, in the squalor, cruelty and corruption of Latin America, is plain for all to see."

Bugging Out. It's fraught with peril.

T-28 : They don't make 'em like that anymore!

Crank that big radial up.

George Orwell

He knew whereof he spoke.

Self Defense

"There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts, a law which comes to us not by training, or custom, or reading. A law which has come to us not by theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right."

Marcus Tullius Cicero 106- 43 B.C.

Ferret and friend.

Ferratus: Little Thief

but good friends

Orwell

Steven Seagal

"There was a time when I thought I was doing a good thing with good guys for a good cause. Looking back, I think I really wanted to be a warrior."

The Magic Ferret

“A dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than is a riot...”

― Robert A. Heinlein, Friday

John S. Mill

Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character had abounded; and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and courage which it contained.

Oswald Spengler

"This is our purpose: to make as meaningful as possible this life that has been bestowed upon us; to live in such a way that we may be proud of ourselves...."

Honor

" Everything that is called duty, the prerequisite for all genuine law and the substance of every noble custom, can be traced back to honor. If one has to think about it, one is already without honor."

Oswald Spengler "Thoughts"

Smokey

Elaine Boosler

"When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking."

Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War

At the beginning of an undertaking the enthusiasm is always greatest. And at that time, both in the Peloponnesus and in Athens there were great numbers of young men who had never been in a war, and were consequently far from unwilling to join in this one.

Germaine Greer

"Perhaps catastrophe is the natural human environment, and even though we spend a great deal of energy trying to get away from it, we are programmed for survival amid catastrophe."

Jeff Cooper

"The police cannot protect the citizen at this stage of our development, and they cannot even protect themselves in many cases. It is up to the private citizen to protect himself and his family, and this is not only acceptable, but mandatory."

When seconds count, the police are minutes away.

Or in my case, maybe an hour or so.

Robert A. Heinlein

"I am free because I know that I alone am morally responsible for everything I do. I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them."

Careful what you say.

Security

He is best secure from dangers who is on his guard even when he seems safe.(Caret periculo, qui etiam tutus caveat)

Publius Syrus, 50 B.C.

Long Ago and Far Away

A good novel

An interesting book about something no one remembers anymore.

Jared Diamond

If you use a bolt action military rifle, you need stripper clips.

You can still get them if you look.

A useful book

I saw her off the coast of Lebanon.

Nobody will ever see a BB in action again.

Correct on both counts."

"You have to defend your honor. And your family."

Suzanne Vega

T-28 Trojan

My Hobby

A good general guide.

Huey

You can't tell the players without a program.

So many guns, so little time.

The Road

The book is great, and so is the movie.

A little of both.

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”

Jeffery Rasley

Mountains

“Mountains seem to answer an increasing imaginative need in the West. More and more people are discovering a desire for them, and a powerful solace in them. At bottom, mountains, like all wildernesses, challenge our complacent conviction - so easy to lapse into - that the world has been made for humans by humans. Most of us exist for most of the time in worlds which are humanly arranged, themed and controlled. One forgets that there are environments which do not respond to the flick of a switch or the twist of a dial, and which have their own rhythms and orders of existence."

Robert McFarlane

Different Aircraft I have flown

Piper Comanche

T28B and T28C Trojan

T-34B Mentor

TH57- Sea Ranger

UH-1 Huey

TA4- Skyhawk

Cessna T-141

Piper Archer

Piper Arrow

Piper Tomahawk

Cessna 172

Cessna 150

About Me

I am a USMC veteran . I live a quiet life in a very rural county. We have one town, three lakes, a river and lots of forest. My hobbies include reloading, shortwave radio listening, and collecting old military rifles and side arms. I do my own gunsmithing. I flew different aircraft from 1972 through 1995, at which point I couldn't pass the flight physical anymore. I have worked or lived in 36 foreign countries.